Pictures of March 2009

When I looked through some pictures that we took from our recent trip to Purbalingga, I found some that are interesting. I choose some of those pictures and then picked three that I think are worthy to be the Pictures of March 2009.

This picture was taken by Pita one early morning in Purbalingga. The object was Ibu Esti's bike (who is Dina's mom). It was foggy and the temperature was cool, I wish I could woke up early that morning and enjoyed the wonderful misty morning in that town.

We were in the town square, blended in with the people in Purbalingga enjoying the saturday night life. The square was packed with people, motorbikes and food vendors. The picture was taken by either Abbie or Peco, I am not sure, but I like the way all the motorbikes parked in a long row.

Zzzzzz......

Sometime ago I watched a news about an exhibition from a photographer who exhibited collections of pictures of people while they were sleeping. It was interesting because I took quite a lot pictures with the same objects too, but my goal was to make fun of the people that I took pictures of. :) So, I was thinking of putting them on my blog but I wasn't trying to immitate what that photographer (whose name I forgot) did on his exhibition. I thought his idea was brilliant. It's interesting to look at the people when they sleep. We never know what's going on in their mind.

My chubby little nephew, Deo. He fell asleep just before his birthday party last year.

My best friend's son, Zidane. He was in the back of the car on our way back to Salatiga from Jogja.

Pretty much exhausted from our Bali trip, Peco was sleeping deep on our way back home.

It was 5:30AM in the morning, they've been partying hard on New Year's eve but Daniel and Zubs strived to watch the first sunrise of the 2009. They were sleeping in the rented car on their way to Sanur beach.

Sid took the picture of a random man sleeping on the river bank.

Picture of February 2009

On our recent trip to Borobudur, I realized that many pictures that I took were mostly the temple as a whole. But I was fascinated to see the pictures that some friends took showing off the details of this monument.

Some details on the carving that tells the story of Mahabharata and Ramayana.

An experimental photography.

Thank you Melissa Mattingly, Dana Crawford and Abbie for the beautiful pictures!

January 2009 Picture of the Month

I've always thought from the very beginning that the picture of this month would be the ones from our trip to Bali. Well, I found pictures that represent the hightlights of this adventure.

I stole this picture from Abbie's file as I looked through all the pictures she took in Bali. The picture was taken on Sanur beach at 5ish in the morning on the first sunrise of 2009.

I took quite a lot of pictures when we were on the Hidden Beach but it turned out not so good. Thankfully, Peco took almost the same amount of pictures of scenery but with way better quality and angle. He climbed up to the rock and sat there while taking pictures of the surrounding.

Pictures of December 2008

It's been raining constantly these past two weeks. It's exciting cause it changes the color of the trees, grass, and even mountains to look even greener. I have some pictures that Sid sent me from his bike trip one morning. Looking at those pictures, I am just thankful that I live in Salatiga.

I guess these pictures would the closing of the Picture of the Month this year. Gosh, can't believe that it's already the end of December!

Pictures of October 2008

This month's pictures feature the work of the photographer that I like best after Annie Leibovitz. His job is not really a professional photographer, he is actually my boss. But Sid Thornton is a very talented one. He loves nature and his sense of adventure has enabled him to travel to different parts of Salatiga, inside out. When adventuring, he never forgot to take pictures of any kinds of sceneries. I've put his works in my office and my room, and some pictures that I put on this blog were his. 

When checking out of this blog, some colleagues who lived in Salatiga and now live off Java expressed that these pictures have been the remedy for their hearts. “Tombo Ati”, as we Javanese people said. 

I’ve selected some of his works which I think are the best. I also hope that these pictures will serve as the tombo ati for my dear friends around the world who misses Salatiga. 

Thank you Sid!

Watching the Sunset from Andong

On the first day of the break I was able to join a small group of people from the school to hike Mount Andong. Though it wasn't the first time to hike in the afternoon but it definitely was the first for me to hike this mountain to watch the sunset. This was my third hiked to Mount Andong. As always, the first 10 minutes was the most painful one because of the elevation. But after this part, the hiking was quite easy with clear trail all the way up to the top. It took less than 2 hours to hike up.

When I got there, the cloud came all around the mountaintop that I couldn't even see a thing. But when everybody got there, the cloud suddenly walked off and the view was clear and stunning as ever. We were able to watch the sunset, it was beautiful but I never thought the sun would went down very quickly. 

Right after the sun dissapeared from the blue sky, the temperature went down drastically. I could adjust this drastic change but it wasn't long that I had to run around to keep my body warm. A few minutes later I decided to hike down in order to keep my sanity from the deep freezing temperature. Sid told me later that after I hiked down, the sky was beautiful.

That was a bummer! I had to blame my grown-up years in the freakin' hot Semarang for missing the experience.

Pictures of September 2008

These pictures are taken from Abbie's website. I found out that she is a talented photographer. I asked her if it's okay to put her works in my blog and she said yes. So, her pictures are the pictures of September 2008. 

The girrafe and the grass. It's not a groundbreaking picture but i like how simple it turned out. 

I was on the picture but that's not the reason why I picked it. :) I like the mixture of the colors and the lights. In real, that pink flowery tree on the background looked so cheap and lame. But I was surprised that it looks great on the picture. The picture was taken when Peco and I sang a song for the girl who celebrated her 19th birthday. 

Thanks Abbie, and great job!

Picture of August 2008

Looking at this picture somehow brought my memory of a children book that I often read with my parents when I was a kid. I couldn’t exactly remember what it was but I could remember the pictures that illustrated the book. One of the pictures was similar to the one that a dear friend of mine James took. He took a road trip across America with his lovely wife Mona recently and stopped by at this deserted barn. I can clearly see that the picture looks so remote, so out in the middle of nowhere. Yet at the same time I captured how tranquil the place is, how peaceful this deserted barn is. I think I am being a little dramatic here. But I like the picture and I need to say something about how I like it. :)

This picture is so surreal. It’s like one of those Thomas Kinkade’s painting. This picture is again taken by James on his road trip across America. My love towards American nature and landscape grew this summer when some friends sent me a bunch of pictures from their adventures around America. I like it a lot! 

Old Town Rendevouz

Gereja Blenduk





The pictures were taken in the old town area in Semarang. There are plenty Dutch colonial style buildings in that area where people uses it for movies, music clips, artistic photographies, etc. The most famous building in the area is now called Gereja Blenduk. We were fortunate to visit the area and took some pictures of ourselves.

Pictures of April 2008

There I was, sitting on the soccer field thinking about life and God. I was amazed by the picturesque view before my eyes. The sky was a mixture of blue and the vibrant light of the sun. The trees just under it gave a little touch of the vivid color. I took some pictures, observed the results and decided to like them. I am thankful that God created natures so that we can enjoy and appreciate the beauty of it.

Pictures of March

I didn't know exactly when my interest of photography grew. But I remember reading a report about the World Press Photo competition on a newspaper few years ago. The winner of that year was a picture of an Iraqi father, he was captivated by the US soldiers, his head was covered and next to him was his son holding him tight with his face expressing fear. That picture opened my eyes about photography, and how one picture can tell millions of words, feelings and meanings. 

I haven't had much chance to explore the world of photography. But I'd like to take a risk of exploring it with my little pocket digital camera. I know that this type of camera have limitations but I think it will be fun to just capture the things that are interesting by whatever means we have. The thoughts of exploring the photography world has moved me to post at least a picture that I like to become the picture of the month. The pictures I post is not necessecarily the pictures I take. It maybe from my friends, famous photographers, or other people.

I dedicated this month's picture to a friend who I think is a talented photographer. Joanna loves nature and people, which graces most of her picture collections. These pictures were taken when we're in Pacitan. I love the color of the dawn and sunset, the fun, and the spontaneousness. 

Thanks Jo, it's indeed good memories!